tattler magazine

I was really looking forward to this show. Another one to add to my stable of regulars: Gossip Girl, One tree Hill (6 seasons WTH!), Samantha Who, Ugly Betty, 90210, Prison Break, Lost… you name it, I watch it.

Harper’s Island was hyped as THE blockbuster serial for the summer, with an extensive ad campaign to boot: TV spots, billboards, online viral teasers. But so far, it’s not quite living up to expectations.

3 episodes have been aired in Singapore so far, and Mediacorp was so proud of the fact that we get to watch it on Sunday, a mere 3 days after the Americans! Yea, well, I watch it on Fridays, the same day it airs in the US, thanks to a paid Rapidshare account. And I have a feeling that it’s probably because of a million other people out there like me that Harper’s Island is getting less than killer ratings on Nielson, causing CBS to move it to a lousier timeslot on Saturdays at 9pm where it will inevitably meet a slow and agonizing death.

A pity, because Harper’s Island is actually not bad. The premise is exciting enough: Wedding party in pretty island. Pretty island has dark past involving a serial killer. Someone picks off wedding guests ‘one by one’ (says the creepy girl in the trailer). It’s Lost meets I Know What You Did Last Summer. The show started off spectacularly too, what with Cousin Ben being decapitated by a boat propeller in the first ten minutes. Awesome. Certainly doesn’t shy away from the gore.

Three episodes in and we’ve seen heads and legs lopped off, someone burned alive, someone strung up by the neck with red ink injected in her eyes, and death by booby-trapped shotgun. Killer is getting creative, I say, up the ante! Plot-wise though, things are pretty slow.

The wedding guests are just wising up to the fact that there is someone or something evil on the loose. The killer is starting to drop clues along with the rising body count. There’s some romantic chemistry heating up between the groom’s best friend, the protagonist of the show, Abby Mills (Elaine Cassidy) and local fisherman hottie Jimmy (C.J Thomason). There are strained familial relations between Abby and her father, and in-law issues with Henry, the groom, and his ego-maniac father-in-law-to-be.

Being the big TV buff that I am, I get this disconcerted feeling every time I see Henry (the geeky accountant from Ugly Betty) play Henry (The Groom) in Harper’s Island. Christopher Gorham even looks and talks alike in both shows, minus the goofy specs. And then there are Jim Beaver (The Sheriff, also Abby’s father) and Kate Cassidy (The Bride), both of whom are from the Supernatural series as well. Now, the show would be absolutely perfect if they brought in Sam and Dean too.

Yes, the size of the cast is huge and unwieldy, but what do you expect when they kill more than one off every week? No point trying to remember names of characters till later on in the series and the cast gets whittled down. Try not to get too attached by giving them nicknames like Hottie Fisherman, British Fop, Blonde Bimbo and Creepy Tattoo Guy. You never know who’s gonna go next. (Please God, aka producers of the show, don’t kill off Hottie Fisherman.)

Hope this show doesn’t do a Cashmere Mafia and get canned by the network. But until then, it’s safe to say that I’ll be tuning in every week for my dose of carnage.